More than £1m is to be clawed back from fraudsters whose "heartless" actions led to victims losing their homes and businesses.

Scam victims in a multi-million pound advertising fraud case will get compensation following court action led by Nottinghamshire County Council’s Trading Standards team, it has been confirmed.

Nine directors of Derby-based Wyvern Media have been ordered to pay £163,390.38 in compensation to their victims, who will receive between £50 - £31,000 as part of £1.6m confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The remaining money will be paid to the Government, the courts and National Trading Standards for further criminal investigations.

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Wyvern Media employed around 250 people with an estimated 18,000 customers per year and an annual turnover of £7m.

The criminal investigation into the company was the largest ever led by the National Trading Standards Regional Investigations Team (East Midlands), hosted by Notts County Council.

The company's managing director Jonathan Louis Rivers, 55, from Dingle Lane, Coleshill, Birmingham, received the largest order of £1.2m earlier this year for his part in the operation.

The latest confiscation order of £114,494 was handed to publication director Joanne Soen, 35, from Farm Crescent, Slough, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and will have to be paid three months, otherwise she will face a default prison sentence for 12 months.

Further confiscation orders have been against Rivers and Barbara Stone, 62 from Leicester, who worked for Aspire magazine and received a 22-month suspended sentence earlier this year for misleading and pressurising sales practices.

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Councillor Gordon Wheeler, vice-chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council’s community and place committee, said: “Crime should never pay so it’s great news that a staggering £1.6m of ill-gotten gains will be clawed back from the leading figures behind this heartless case.

“The financial losses forced many of the affected businesses to close and the stress on the victims was immense, so unfortunately no amount of compensation will make up for this.

“However, this compensation will hopefully help the victims to rebuild their lives and is extra punishment for the leading figures whose greed led them to deceive and harass businesses on a huge scale.”

James Delaney, manager of the National Trading Standards East Midlands regional investigations team, said: “I am glad that we have been able to compensate the victims of this case for their significant losses by forcing the criminals involved to hand over their assets gained from the fraud.

“Some victims lost their homes and businesses over their involvement with Wyvern Media and this result goes some way to helping them to rebuild their lives.”